The Satanic Temple has made headlines over the years for making a massive statue of Baphomet to put outside a state building, to have an after school Satan club in public schools, and for suing Netflix over the use of certain imagery in Sabrina. Now the temple is making headlines for a pretty substantial reason – they're officially recognized by the Federal Government of the United States and by the IRS as an official religion.
The temple has published the following statement to their website.
“We are pleased to announce that for the very (first) time in history, a Satanic organization has been recognized by the United States Federal Government as being a church.
“The Satanic Temple recently received notice from the IRS affirming our status.
“This acknowledgement will help make sure the Satanic Temple has the same access to public spaces as other religious organizations, affirm our standing in court when battling religious discrimination, and enable us to apply for faith-based government grants.”
There was also a documentary recently released on the religion called Hail Satan? From what I've heard, it's a pretty informative documentary that follows what the temple has been doing over the past few years. You can also read a brief description of the religion below.
“The mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice, and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will. Politically aware, Civic-minded Satanists and allies in The Satanic Temple have publicly opposed The Westboro Baptist Church, advocated on behalf of children in public school to abolish corporal punishment, applied for equal representation where religious monuments are placed on public property, provided religious exemption and legal protection against laws that unscientifically restrict women’s reproductive autonomy, exposed fraudulent harmful pseudo-scientific practitioners and claims in mental health care, and applied to hold clubs along side other religious after school clubs in schools besieged by proselytizing organizations.”
